The Super Mum

The Super Mum
Karen Rose Smith

THE MOST WONDERFUL TIME OF THE YEARWith three kids to care for and two jobs to make ends meet, the last thing on Angela Schumacher' s mind was a relationship. And then Santa delivered the perfect man to her door….Football coach David Moore agreed to be a " big brother" to Angela' s troubled older son, but he didn' t anticipate falling hard for the boy' s beautiful mom. As the holidays approached and their romance heated up, David knew Angela was torn between family duty and heart' s desire–but was he willing to wait for her to make up her mind? After all, love was waiting under the tree, if only Angela could reach out and grab it!Talk of the NeighborhoodWelcome to Danbury Way, where nothing is as it seems…

Angela was alone with David, nervous and excited as a kid on Christmas morning.

She had no regrets. They’d driven out to the community pond and had a blast skating. They’d moved as one. She’d been amazed how right it had felt to be with David. He’d kissed her in the gazebo, and then again in the car before the drive back to her house. They’d steamed up the windows until they couldn’t see out.

Not once had she asked herself what she was doing, because she knew. She was having fun. She was letting her attraction to David become more than a dream.

She was letting him in.

Dear Reader,

I’m a mom, so I understand my heroine’s need to be the Super Mom. As a woman, I think all women are blessed with the nurturing gene. But sometimes we want to take care of everyone else and we forget to take care of ourselves!

What I love about this series is that the women on Danbury Way take care of each other. As friends, they give each other reminders and advice on everything from their love lives to taking care of kids. My heroine, Angela, finds true love and answers to the problems with her son because she realizes she deserves to be happy, too—with a few gentle nudges from her sister and friends.

May we all be blessed with friends who encourage us to reach for our dreams.

All my best,

Karen Rose Smith

The Super Mum

Karen Rose Smith

www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)

KAREN ROSE SMITH

An award-winning author, Karen Rose Smith has had over fifty romance novels published. Each book broadens her world and challenges her in a unique way. While writing The Super Mom, she recalled the friendships she’s experienced that have touched her the most. Some are lifelong. Some are recent. All have enriched her life. Readers can e-mail Karen through her Web site at www.karenrosesmith.com or write to her at P.O. Box 1545, Hanover, PA 17331.

To Lisa Smith—Thank you for your thoughtfulness

and support through a difficult time. May we always

find that ray of sunshine and feel its warmth.

Contents

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Epilogue

Chapter One

She was a fraud.

Everyone in the neighborhood thought Angela Schumacher was a Super mom, which might have been true a couple of years ago. But now, handling two jobs, caring for Olivia, Anthony and Michael more or less on her own, she was frazzled and on the edge.

She parked in her driveway and leaped out of her van, just staring at the scene in front of her. Evening light was fading fast. Her neighbor and babysitter, Zooey, stood just outside Angela’s front door carrying Jack Lever’s toddler. Zooey’s hand was in a “stay” position to Olivia, Michael, and Jack’s daughter, Emily, as she called to someone around the corner of the house.

Concerned that her normally unflappable, beautiful neighbor seemed hassled, Angela rushed forward. Although her blond hair was cut to a chic chin-length bob, and she usually felt good about herself when she looked in the mirror, next to Zooey she felt like a shrimp at five foot four. She’d never understood why it had taken Jack Lever so long to fall in love with his beautiful, willowy nanny. But he finally had, and everyone on Danbury Way had cheered. Now they were engaged to be married.

“Jack, be careful on that ladder,” Zooey called around the corner of the house, her breath puffing white in the early December cold.

“What ladder?” Angela asked, astonished. What in the heck was going on here? Maybe a cat had climbed up onto the roof… “Why is Jack climbing a ladder?”

Shifting two-year-old Jack Jr. from one arm to the other, Zooey replied calmly, “It’s Anthony.”

The fact suddenly registered with Angela that Anthony wasn’t standing in the doorway with the other kids. Her heart raced. Her mouth went dry. Panic clamped her chest. “What about Anthony? What’s wrong? Why do you need a ladder? Is there a fire?”

Zooey gave her friend a hint of a smile. “No, no fire. Calm down. He’s locked in his room. We can’t get him to open the door. He and Olivia got into an argument. He took her rock collection, went into his room and locked everyone out.”

Seven-year-old Olivia came rushing to Angela now, and so did Michael. “Mummy, I hate him,” she cried, tears rolling down her cheeks. “He’s got my rocks.”

Olivia’s rock collection was her most precious possession. That’s obviously why Anthony had taken it. From the Super mom front, she was failing miserably with her oldest child. Anthony had been acting out in subtle ways for the past few months, ever since Jerome had missed his last two dates to see him.

Little Michael, whose fifth birthday seemed to give him permission to ask more questions than any other five-year-old in the world, gazed up at her with certainty. “You can make him open the door. That’s my room, too. He won’t let me in.”

“Jack just wanted to peek in the window to make sure he was okay,” Zooey assured her.

At that moment Jack rounded the house and smiled at Angela. “He’s as stubborn as any nine-year-old. He won’t look at me or talk to me. He totally ignored me when I rapped on the window. But he’s okay. He’s sitting on his bed with his earphones on, playing with his GameBoy.”